BooksBarbecue
Back We Were Killers Once
Chapters (65)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty–one
  25. Twenty–two
  26. Twenty–three
  27. Twenty–four
  28. Twenty–five
  29. Twenty–six
  30. Twenty–seven
  31. Twenty–eight
  32. Twenty–nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty–one
  35. Thirty–two
  36. Thirty–three
  37. Thirty–four
  38. Thirty–five
  39. Thirty–six
  40. Thirty–seven
  41. Thirty–eight
  42. Thirty–nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty–one
  45. Forty–two
  46. Forty–three
  47. Forty–four
  48. Forty–five
  49. Forty–six
  50. Forty–seven
  51. Forty–eight
  52. Forty–nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Fifty–one
  55. Fifty–two
  56. Fifty–three
  57. Fifty–four
  58. Fifty–five
  59. Fifty–six
  60. Fifty–seven
  61. Author’s Note
  62. Acknowledgments
  63. Also by Becky Masterman
  64. About the Author
  65. Newsletter Sign-up

Again, I was very angry at this turn of events, and it felt like Perry was taunting me when he said sure. So the three of them got out of the car and collected about two dozen bottles before they got back in. The grandfather was somewhat sick, but not sick enough to stay in the car. He helped a little.

Now the way Perry tells it is that all this happened much later, after Mexico and California and maybe even after Florida. I can’t remember very well. But I do remember Perry made a whole lot more of the story, with a whole lot more bottles. He said he told Capote we must of picked up 1,000 bottles at 2 cents per. That got us twelve dollars and some change that Perry and I split fifty fifty with the kid and his grandfather. When we cashed the bottles in I was all for leaving the two of them at the quick stop, but they wanted to come with us further, and this is where Perry stopped telling the truth. He says we left them there. But we did not.

I need to make this very clear, that we picked up the boy and his grandfather before the Clutter murders, not after. But even that is nowhere near everything I have to tell.

About a hundred more miles down the road Granddad was coughing pretty hard and when I looked at him in the rearview mirror I could see he was pastier than before. We had been driving for a couple of hours and the kid said he had to “take a piss.” I pulled over to the side of the road and we all got out and relieved ourselves except for Granddad. When the kid buttoned his old dungarees he looked across the land and said he saw a glittering that looked like a pile of bottles. Perry said we had enough, and I was ready to drive on too but the kid insisted. He laughed and said picking up those bottles was kind of an addiction, once you started you could not stop. He got Granddad out of the car and said come on you help. There was an old sack that we had used for some of the bottles on the floor in the back seat, but they did not take the sack.

I could not see what good Granddad would do to pick up bottles, he was not even walking too well. The kid supported him with an arm over his shoulder and they weaved like a couple of drunks. Perry and I watched them go far off the road. I remember our conversation during this time. I said I had not noticed before, watching him from behind, there’s something different about that kid.

Perry watched but did not say anything.

I asked Perry can you see the bottles he’s talking about? Can you see the glitter?

Perry said yes, I think I can, Dick.